Return of the Water Bearer
by Tsukiakari-Wolf
Summary: First Fic stupidly created and posted 2am... Nearly ten years after destroying Aquarius' key to summon the celestial spirit king Lucy finds something she never imagined she'd see again...


As the dust settled around Fairy Tail's strongest team Lucy turned to her friends to make sure everyone was relatively unharmed. Upon seeing them all smiling back at her she let out a cheer that was equal parts victory and relief.

Lucy felt her legs give way from underneath her and allowed gravity to pull her down staring up at the dawn sky. Half-formed exclamations of worry died on the lips of her friends as she chuckled.

This was the most spent Lucy had felt in what by now was probably a decade.

After their fateful battle against Tartarus in which she had lost a companion she had held close to her heart Lucy had pushed herself to train and fight more and more. She had become stronger; enough so that she could keep up to five gates open at once, even if only for an hour; enough that she could dispatch most lower level fiends with Fleuved'étoiles without relying on her spirits. All to ensure she was never forced to go as far as severing her connection to one of her dear friends again.

Despite all of her best efforts however her stamina was still made to look lacking in comparison to the rest of her team members all of whom had continued to grow in strength alongside her as the years passed by. Her only consolation is that Happy was equally as exhausted as he landed on her stomach and stared at the sky with her, too tired to even crack a joke.

There was still a distinct lack of satisfaction in the thought that the only one who might be considered weaker than her in her team was a talking cat but it was something she had long since come to terms with.

As if to show off their remaining vitality the others sauntered over. By now Natsu and Gray had already begun one of their heart-warmingly familiar arguments about who had done better in the fight. Erza decided to humour them instead taking the time to focus on Lucy.

"Do you need some help up?" The requip mage offered a smile and an iron clad hand.

"I know we should get back to the others but for now I'd just like to watch the sunrise, for a second there I was worried we wouldn't get to see it again." Erza let her hand drop her smile becoming wistful.

"It was a pretty hard fight wasn't it?" She carefully lowered herself to the ground next to Lucy. "And the sunrise does look quite beautiful."

"What are you talking about a hard fight? We obliterated them." Their words seemed to have distracted the two grown men from their juvenile argument. Despite his protest of their assessment the ice maker mage flopped down to the ground beside Erza to watch the rising sun.

"Of course we did, there's no way we could lose to someone who tried messing with our guild." Natsu practically threw himself to the ground on Lucy's other side a broad grin splitting his features. Happy let out a feeble 'aye sir' but seemed close to drifting to sleep.

"Who would have thought," Lucy began entwining her fingers around Natsu's; "That our victory would come from you and Gray achieving a Unison Raid."

"Hey I could have done just fine on my own, it just so happened that that pervert bastard happened to attack at the same time." Natsu rocketed into a sitting position and slammed his free fist against the earth in emphasis.

"That was my line Flame Brain." Gray mirrored Natsu's action being sure to hit the ground beside him with just a little more power.

Just like that they had begun to argue again but this time Erza wasn't forgiving. No sooner had she requiped a sword to her hand had the two returned to their prone positions.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh at the reaction. They may all have grown over the years but some things would never change.

Her laughter did not last long however as an ominous rumbling sound made the ground tremble beneath them. They did not make it even half way to their feet as a final thunderous crack robbed the ground from under their feet.

They fell; a much shorter fall than they might have feared only about 15 or 20 feet but it was an uncomfortable landing none-the-less.

In one of their embarrassingly familiar dog piles each of them let out a sound of complaint but none of them made a move until the dust had mostly cleared and they were sure that they were on firm ground.

They had fallen into a small cavern. Judging by the damp and the muddied puddles scattered about water had been running through it but, with the debris from the collapse scattered around it was hard to identify anything like a stream or spring where the water might have originated.

Having determined that it was safe to get up they all began to move. Once again sounds of complaint filled the cavern or rather pit as they fumbled over each other in their attempts to stand.

Only half way off of Natsu, Lucy's attention was captured by an object that glinted gold in the new morning light. Lucy's heart leapt to her throat and she reached out to that golden shine too caught up in the moment to care how it pressed her cleavage into Natsu's face.

Shaking fingers brushed over the evocative form of curved fins and, over the deceptively sturdy shaft before they curled around the smooth curves of an upside down urn.

She sat back on her haunches and brought the key closer to her face for examination either unaware of or ignoring the deep near exaggerated gasping noises Natsu made as he sucked in oxygen.

Despite a chorus of reasons floating through her mind as to why the situation should be impossible hope flared in her chest. Never, even if she lived to the end of eternity could she forget the details of the key she was holding, nor the spirit that is summoned.

Her earlier fatigue wiped from her body she trampled her way off of Natsu and stumbled over a slow recovering Happy in order to reach one of the larger puddles in the sun filled pit. Gray and Erza watched her hasty movements frozen in place by the unexpected grin and the fat tears that covered the face of the celestial mage.

"Open gate of the water bearer." She submerged then end of the key in the puddle. Her smile broadened as her magic flowed through the key producing light and a sound of a doorbell.

"Aquarius!" Her voice cracked with emotion as she finished the incantation but the sound was mostly swallowed by the rushing sound of swirling water.

The cost of the magic was quick to catch up with her and she could feel her consciousness begin to fade as the silhouette of her long lost friend began to take shape. She caught sight of glossy blue scales just before her eyes lost the fight to stay open.

"Idiot... What have I told you about summoning me from scummy little puddles like this?" As if no time had passed an angry insult was thrown right off the bat but it held no real sting.

The words were the last things Lucy heard before her awareness lapsed completely but even her physical and mental fatigue could not wiped the expression of joy from her resting face.


End file.
